The Big Adventure
by evieeden
Summary: A wolf pup goes exploring one day. FutureTake from the Part of the Pack universe. Advent story written for 2nd December.


**Happy 2****nd**** December everyone, and here's your second advent story. This is a futuretake taken from the same world as my story Part of the Pack, but you don't have to read that one to understand this – it can stand alone. I hope you all like it.**

**Massive thanks go to the lovely MeraNaamJoker who beta'd this story for me. As always, I own nothing to do with Twilight.**

**The Big Adventure**

The pup was having a great time.

Sure, his momma and his daddy weren't there, but there was so much to see and do that he hardly missed them.

The world was so much brighter than he was used to; there were so many colours, so many sounds, so many smells. The sweet scent that had hurt his nose earlier was now gone and he revelled in the fragrance of the trees and the ground and the small creatures that scurried around his feet.

In the distance, he caught sight of something small and fluffy that made his tummy rumble. He moved his legs as fast as he could towards it, only for it to run away more quickly than he could keep up. His legs were too short, not like his daddy's. His daddy would have been able to catch the food easily.

His dismay at not being fed disappeared, though, as a small butterfly danced in front of his face, distracting him. He snorted, dislodging it when it settled on his nose, and chased after it when it fluttered away, yipping happily as he ran through the forest.

He didn't pay attention to his surroundings as he chased the mesmerising creature. It led him through the trees, under roots and across well-trodden pathways.

He could hear shouting from far away, but the sounds didn't make any sense to him, and when he turned around to look, there was no-one there.

Suddenly, the pup lost his balance and landed in a pool of water, sinking before he managed to kick his way to the surface again, whimpering.

He was cold now, the water having drenched his fur. The butterfly was nowhere to be seen and the edge of the water looked very far away. Pushing his paws against the water as hard as he could, he eventually felt the ground beneath him and scrambled to safety.

He whimpered. The forest that had seemed so bright and fun before now looked dark and scary. The wind rushed through the trees towards him, blowing his fur back and chilling his already-cold skin. He didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to go home and cuddle with his momma, but looking round, he couldn't tell which way was home.

The pup stumbled forwards, pausing to roll over in some loose, dry leaves that he found, trying to rid himself of the water covering his body. He walked through the woods, the tall trees seeming to loom over him threateningly. All was quiet now in the woods. The sky had clouded over and the small animals that had scurried around him before had now vanished.

He let out a plaintive cry, hoping that his daddy could hear him and would come for him soon. To his relief a series of howls then echoed through the forest and he barked as loud as he could before running towards where the howls had come from. The farther he ran, though, the further away the howls seemed to get.

He stopped and turned in a circle, trying to work out where to go. Finally he curled up in a tiny ball in the leaf litter and gave another distressed yip. The howls in the distance replied again only this time they were more spread out, coming from all sides of him. He yowled again and then waited. The answering howls and barks couldn't be too far away now, and the pup felt the ground begin to shake as the others began to draw nearer.

A shadow fell over the pup and he stared upwards, his head craning back to take in the giant black wolf that stood over him.

The wolf lowered its snout and snuffled at the pup, burying its nose into his fur and along his body. The pup sniffed tentatively back and his body immediately relaxed as the strangely familiar scent filled his nostrils. He jumped up, the presence of a fellow wolf reassuring him. Trying to wrangle the bigger wolf's nose between his jaw, his paws flew up to pat at the other's face. He received a nip on his neck for his troubles, and the black wolf threw back its head to let out a series of barks that made the pup cower.

He didn't shy away for too long, however, as seconds later he felt teeth close over the scruff of his neck and he was unceremoniously hoisted into the air.

The pup squirmed around, his paws flailing about as he tried to get free; all he succeeded in doing though was swinging back and forth. That was fun for a while, but soon he got tired, especially after the rest of his adventure.

The black wolf turned around and began to trot through the forest, the rhythm of his pace lulling the pup into a half-asleep state.

A noise came from the side, and the pup blinked open his half-closed eyes to see two other wolves, red and grey, now running alongside the black wolf. He yipped excitedly at the sight of the other two wolves, particularly the grey one that he recognised from occasional glimpses and memories as being his daddy. He began to wriggle in earnest now, trying to get across to the grey wolf. As if it knew what he was thinking, his black captor tightened the grip of his teeth.

The grey wolf came close enough to affectionately lick several times at the pup's snout, before barking once and then veering away.

The pup whined at this desertion. He wanted his daddy back and he didn't know why the grey wolf had left now that he had just been found. He squirmed again and the black wolf lightly shook him by the scruff of the neck before picking up his pace and running towards a break in the trees.

They emerged into someone's back garden and the black wolf padded closer to the house where a tall woman waited. Tossing his head slightly, he passed the pup over so the woman was now holding him up. With a last snuffle, the black wolf disappeared back into the woods.

"Well, look at you."

The pup turned his attention to the woman who had spoken. She wasn't his momma, but she was warm and she smelt like pack and that was good enough for him. He reached up and pressed his nose against hers, licking around her face as he did.

She made a chuffing sound and then held him away from her face.

"You know, as adorable as you are right now, you seriously need a bath. You stink, buddy. What were you up to out there, huh?"

He continued to wriggle as she carried him inside the warm house, holding him closer to her body so she didn't drop him. She stopped in a tiled room and set him on a carpeted mat. Sleepiness crept over the pup again, but he jerked out of his doze when he was abruptly picked up and set down in water.

He squawked loudly, the memories of the water he had been stuck in before making him panic, and he began to kick furiously, one of his claws catching the female's arm.

"Son of a...!"

She jerked back and then picked the pup up by his scruff once more.

"You don't like that, huh? I'm sorry, but you really need a bath. You don't want your mommy to come here and find you covered in dirt, do you?"

The pup was too far gone to care what his momma would think; he just wanted to stay out of the water. Luckily, the female obliged him, continuing to hold him in the air while she ran a rough cloth over his body. Against his will, the pup relaxed. This water was warm and the feel of the cloth was nice, like a tongue bathing him.

Seconds later he was swaddled in warmth, just in time for the voices downstairs to erupt.

Momma!

She was there. He could hear her.

"Where is he?! Is he safe?! He's not hurt is he?" She sounded distressed. "I swear I only turned around for two seconds to hang a load of laundry on the clothes line and then when I looked he was gone."

"He's perfectly safe, Bella. There's nothing to worry about now. Leah's just taken him to get cleaned up and he'll be down any second. You can calm down now."

There was a smacking noise.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down, Paul Lahote! That's my baby and I won't calm down until I can see that he's safe for myself."

Another male voice, not his father this time, spoke. "Yeah, we need to talk about that, Bella. You see there's not really a problem, but something unexpected has happened."

Silence. The pup couldn't hear anything but breathing and heartbeats.

"What do you mean unexpected? What are you talking about?"

The female holding him spoke. The vibrations from her chest made the pup wriggle in his towel, trying to get his head clear to see everything.

"What he means is that Tom has phased. Gave all of us a hell of a shock when he sprang up in the pack mind."

He could see his momma now. She was standing in front of his daddy, her hands on her hips. The pup began to fight in earnest to get free of the towel. He yipped frantically so his momma would know that he was nearby.

"Holy shit!"

The other female got tired of trying to hold onto the pup and set him down on the floor, where he immediately attacked the towel that confined him. Finally freed, he ran as fast as he could towards his momma, whining when she didn't pick him up straight away. Instead, she looked down at him with a strange expression on her face.

He cried out and was glad when his daddy scooped him up and cradled him in his arms.

His momma was still very quiet.

"How did this happen?" she finally asked.

The bigger male, the one he automatically recognised as being more dominant than his daddy, replied.

"We had a vampire running around the borders of the reservation earlier. It's possible that its presence instigated the change."

"But Thomas is still just a baby. He hasn't even mastered walking yet. How can he have phased already?"

The big male shrugged. "Maybe it's because he's still young that the change came so easily for him. It might be more natural for him than with our first phases. You have to remember that apart from Seth, Brady and Collin, we were all in our mid- to late-teens before we changed. Our bodies had already technically grown to their human limits, and the wolf pushed us physically to even further heights. It might not be the same for Tom if he's phasing so young. We'd be more likely to expect Jared and Paul's cousins to phase before our children ever would; at least they'd be around the right age for it."

His momma let the big man move her over to the sofa to sit down. The pup let out a bark and threw himself forward, trying to reach her lap.

"Wh... Bella, can you just hold him? It's obviously you he wants."

His momma slowly raised her arms and he fell gratefully into them. This was home for him. The smell, the feel, the comfort – his daddy would look after them both, but his momma would look after just him.

Glad to be back with her, the pup snuggled into her body as much as he could, licking her hand and chin before settling down into a tiny ball. His momma's arms came snugly around him.

The voices continued above his head but he didn't pay any attention to them.

"...about two miles from the house."

"Was funny as hell. He could only see up to about knee high so we couldn't recognise any landmarks to find him sooner. "

"Jake!"

"Well it was."

"This isn't going to happen with ours as well, is it?"

"Oh yeah, especially 'cause you'll have two to deal with."

"Can you imagine trying to chase more than one cub around the forest? God, it'd be a nightmare; we'd be permanently looking for them."

"To hell with that. The second they phase, you're going to bind them up so tightly in Alpha orders, Samuel Uley, that they won't be able to move two steps away from me."

"Calm down, Leelee. We don't even know if they'll all phase like this. It could just be a one-time event what with the leech getting so close earlier."

"Hmmph."

The words faded into the distance for the pup as sleep took over his body. It had been such a long day for him and he was very tired. He was home now though, with his momma, and she would look after him while he rested.

On the very precipice of unconsciousness he kicked his legs out and briefly recognised that they didn't feel the same as before.

"Well...at least we know how to relax him so that he changes back."

The pup slept on, dreaming of butterflies.


End file.
